The Four R's: Relationships in Twenty-First-Century Schools
By Bob Lenz
7/14/08
What structures and systems does Envision Schools use to prepare students for success in college and their futures in the twenty-first century? We focus on four guiding principles, and the second concerns relationships and how we build them among students and educators. Read a previous post of mine that defines the principles and reflects on the first one, rigor.
Our schools are small, personalized learning environments. Class sizes are also small, and teams of teachers and peers provide students with academic and social guidance.
Remember the coach that spurred you on to athletic achievement that you never thought you could attain by yourself, or the teacher for whom you would do anything because he or she understood you so well? We believe schools need to be designed to intentionally create more of these experiences for kids -- school must be be a nurturing, caring, high-expectation place where students feel well known, well supported, and well connected to their peers as a community of learners.
We employ the following structures and strategies to achieve this goal:
- Our multigrade, interdisciplinary teams of teachers have planning time together.
- We have an academic advisory program for students.
- We hold biannual student- and parent-advisory conferences.
- We hold community meetings.
- Academic and emotional-support programs are a part of our Response to Intervention Program.
Teams of core subject-area teachers, including instructors in art and digital media, share the same group of students for two years. In the lower house -- grades 9-10 -- the classes are blended. In the upper house -- grades 11-12 -- the team of teachers loop with the same students through a Junior and Senior Institute.
By teaching the same students for two years, teachers get the opportunity to know their students well. This approach is especially helpful in jumping off to a fast start in the second year. The teachers also have common planning time, which they use to plan projects, coordinate their curriculum, look at student work together, and discuss the learning and engagement of individual students. (A teacher leader plans and facilitates this effort.) Teachers can then collectively target students for more support within the classroom and possibly plan for other interventions outside of the classroom experience (such as tutoring or counseling).
In addition, the teacher team helps students build their own learning-community teams, each of which has a name. For instance, one school has four teams: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. The students take courses, work on projects, go on field studies, visit colleges, and solve problems together. Many of the students describe their school friends and teachers as family. One student explained to me, "It is not as if we always get along. We are like a family. We might have disagreements, but we know that we will always be there for one another."
We believe that being in a safe learning community, where students are known and supported as learners and people, allows students to reach for and achieve more academically rigorous learning. Students will strive for excellence because they do not want to let down their teachers or peers. It is a cultural shift.
Having students feel supported is a good outcome, but we don't think it is enough. If we don't use these strategies and structures to increase student learning, we have just made kids feel better without preparing them for the twenty-first century.
In my next blog entry, I'll provide more on building relationships through the academic advisory program, but please share your thoughts about this post.
Establishing Relationships
Submitted by Kimmi Strabley (not verified) on August 3, 2008 - 21:00.
Your staff seems very committed to providing students with a sense of community. I believe that establishing relationships is necessary for the success of both teachers and students. Students not only need to feel safe at school, they must also feel as if they are genuinely cared for. Unfortunately, for many of them, school is the only place they receive support. Teachers must be aware of and sensitive to the needs of each child. Because it often takes time to build trusting relationships, looping seems like a logical solution. We do not currently loop with students at our school, although some high school teachers and intervention specialists work with the same students for several years. Do you know of any research that has been conducted on the effectiveness of looping? I am interested in learning more about it.
Time
Submitted by valerie Jerzak (not verified) on July 24, 2008 - 07:47.
Our high school has just began team teaching in the nineth and tenth grade. The team does not get common planning time together, but but they do take time after to school to share ideas. My school is a small school and being only one of four math teachers I do end up getting some students two and three times while they are in high school. I do enjoy etting he chance to get to know some of these studetns. There is not alot of time in class to build these relationships.
Teacher-Student Relationships
Submitted by Karen (not verified) on July 23, 2008 - 19:33.
Your article struck a chord with me. I just finished teaching a straight sixth grade class after back-to-back split classes. I had multiple students for two years in a row. There is nothing like following and being instrumental in your students' progress for multiple years. This process allows you to develop the type of close, supportive, nurturing relationship necessary to educate the youth. This type of relationship is not easily developed in a short period of time. I feel a sense of loss for the coming school year as all of the students I had for multiple years have graduated and are off to the junior high.
Open Book
Submitted by Charlie from Georgia (not verified) on July 23, 2008 - 17:26.
Bob,
I have prided myself at being an "open book" sort of teacher. What you see is what you get. My students know what my philosophies are, my hobbies, my passions (sports, music, etc.), my experiences as a kid, you name it. Of course I leave out inappropriate or personal information, but for the most part my kids really know who I am and what I am all about. I also make it a point to know as much as I can about my kids. It doesn't take very long for the majority of my students to have nicknames. What does this all mean? They respond to me, they want to participate, work, question, and interact in class. I get more comments during the year (as well as at the end of the year) about how much a certain child loved coming to school because of my class. You can't measure that with test results, but you can bet that child has been positively impacted in an educational sense.
Connections
Submitted by Kimmi Strabley (not verified) on August 3, 2008 - 21:15.
When I reflect on my school career, it is not the content that I immediately recall. Rather, it is the special moments and connections that come to mind. Your willingness to share information about yourself shows students that it is okay for them to open up in your class. As a result, you will build many strong relationships with your students. You seem very passionate; your students are lucky to have you!
Personal Connections Helps Learning
Submitted by Marci Reeves (not verified) on October 2, 2008 - 05:47.
I agree that sharing stories about yourself are helpful in building connections with students. In the book, On Being A Teacher, it is mentioned that student learning is easier in a safe environment.(Kottler, Zehm, Kottler, 2005). By building relationships it helps children to feel safe. This can give children a better learning experience.
Marci, K-3 Reading Intervention, Rainsboro, OH
Looping
Submitted by Patricia Tomlinson (not verified) on July 23, 2008 - 11:05.
Bob,
I enjoyed your blog. As a K-8 teacher,I was lucky to have taught looping classes all througout the 1990s and found them to be much more successful than one year classes simply because of the community of learners that was built. My classes actually contained two or more grade levels depending on the year. The year I had three grade levels my third graders had been with me for three years. Later, when I went up to the middle school some of those same students joined me in a 7th/8th grade self-contained class. That was quite an experience to have students I taught to read as well as speak English as first graders now be part of my class again. I would love to have the opportunity to participate in looping classes again. The model that you have described for your high school sounds so supportive of students.
Patricia
Thinking Outside the Box
Submitted by john grace (not verified) on July 23, 2008 - 19:08.
Bob,
I see where you are coming from about schools being nurturing and providing a more comfortable environment for students. All it needs is for people to keep thinking outside of the box more. Educators today have to be concerned with environment and quality of life,not just test scores. Your model for your students will really work. It's awesome.
Student Relationships
Submitted by Colleen Strenge (not verified) on July 22, 2008 - 20:23.
I am an elementary math support teacher and I work with kids up to four years in a row. It's not always easy when you have that challenging behavior problem, but I've noticed that when I don't give up on trying to form a positive relationship with them, they usually turn around. I have had the opportunity to witness their social and academic growth and tell them and others that they have shown growth over the years. Sometimes kids just need a positive relationship with someone over the long term to want to stay in school and keep trying. I'm all for looping, or giving kids the opportunity to have a realtionship with a teacher over the years. I've seen the positive impact it can have on kids, especially the ones that may be the hardest to get along with at first.
Student Relationship
Submitted by Elizabeth Soules (not verified) on July 24, 2008 - 07:14.
I, too, am a elementary math support teacher. I teach in a building of 750-800 students. Most of the third and fourth grade classes in my school are now looping. This has been a growing parental request.
Over the last four years, my responsibilites have centered around the third graders in our building (256-265 third graders). My school provides a math support class during our assigned math blocks. We service ten of the neediest students not receiving special eduation. Working with classroom teachers and parents, students transition to their assigned math class when ready. This does not happen too often. This model has been very successful. Given the educational research, our third grade math program will be transitioning to a "looping model" this year. I will establish my case load and stay with these students for a two years, as long as they continue to qualify for services. I look forward to the challlenges and benifits of keeping my students for a two year cycle. I see the benefits of knowing my students'abilities and personalities when starting my second year with them. I appreciated your frankness with students with behavior problems and the benefits of having long term relationships.
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